How to transform early education into early education? How big is the profiteering of early education courses? What are the pitfalls behind it?
Starting anxiety: early education becomes early training?
Although Lele in Nanjing is only 15 months old, it has been attending classes in an early education center with American background for nearly a year. "I can't let my children lose at the starting line. Other children can go to early education, and my family can't fall behind. " Lele's mother Lu Huimin told reporters.
There are more and more parents who have the same idea as Lu Huimin. The reporter recently visited a number of commercial centers in Nanjing and found that the age of children participating in early education tends to be younger. Some "students" hold diapers, and some even hold them in their arms with pacifiers.
Ms. Huang, who works in an architectural design institute in Nanjing, has developed a set of early education curriculum plan for newborn children: nine months ago, she attended parent-child classes every two weeks; September-1may, once a week perception training class ... "I believe that after more than two years of intensive training, children will definitely stand out in the interview and enter the best kindergarten."
How old can the baby be taught early? The answer of early education institutions is "the sooner the better". The staff of an early education institution in Nanjing told the reporter that early education should start with prenatal education, and the expectant mother can not have systematic prenatal education until she is pregnant 14 weeks later.
"The real early education is not to let children go to training classes, but to take parents as the main educational concept and method." Yin Fei, an associate professor at Nanjing Normal University who has been studying early education for a long time, said that parents' utilitarian education tendency made excessive early education worse. The early education center should guide parents to learn more scientific educational concepts and methods, pay attention to the situation, teach students in accordance with their aptitude, and let children learn happily while feeling affection and care.
Huge profits: Is early education more expensive than MBA?
"The cost of a class is between 140 yuan and 350 yuan. If you enroll in two courses, it will cost more than 20,000 a year. " The reporter inquired about more than a dozen early education institutions in Nanjing and found that such charging standards are very common. If children want to attend early childhood classes, choose the least class hours and the cheapest price, and pay at least 5,000 yuan.
"The cost of early education is too expensive, more expensive than my MBA." Ms. Wang, who works in a bank in Nanjing, said.
When asked why the fees are so high, early education institutions insist that "expensive is reasonable". Some early education institutions take the European and American teaching models as their selling points, claiming that the curriculum, teaching environment and hardware facilities are in line with the global standards. Some institutions take "Italian Montessori Education Law, German carl orff Music Education Law" as the theory, which makes parents feel value for money.
The reporter got in touch with a number of early education brands as a franchisee. Many brand organizations said that the average return on investment of joining the early education center is at least 30%, and the cost can be recovered in less than two years.
"High price" is one of the important marketing strategies of early education institutions. Yin Fei believes that it is precisely because of parents' psychology that "the more expensive the price, the greater the effect" that institutions generally set the price higher. In order to let children receive "quality education" from the beginning, parents sign up at no cost.
"Early education is definitely a profiteering industry." The person in charge of a kindergarten in Nanjing calculated an account for the reporter. Regardless of the venue rent or the teacher's salary, early education institutions are almost the same as private kindergartens. Even in terms of labor costs, early education institutions are lower, because early education requires teachers' working hours and academic qualifications. It's actually lower. However, the fee for early education is five times or even 10 times higher than that for kindergarten.
There are many traps: how risky is the early education class?
Foreign early education "exports to the domestic market", bundled sales are tricky, and security risks are prominent ... The reporter found that in the face of the fast-growing early education market, some early education institutions are covered with gorgeous coats on the surface, but there are many traps hidden behind them, which makes people hard to prevent.
Some international chain early education brands claim that their use of "global synchronous teaching materials", "imported teaching AIDS" and "foreign teachers" will definitely enable "students" to receive excellent education all over the world. However, some parents who have personally experienced early education do not recognize it. In an early education center with an American background, the teacher was called TEM8, but when the reporter said he wanted to see the teacher's certificate with his own eyes, the staff tried their best to shirk it.
An insider of the education system in Nanjing said that at present, many "foreign early education" in the domestic market are "exported for domestic sales" and "fragrant flowers outside the wall". "After getting a green card abroad, some people registered and established training institutions in the United States, Australia and other places, and then absorbed franchisees in the name of international brands to make huge profits."
It is a common trick of early education institutions to attract parents to pay more with "package discount". Young parents are repeatedly recruited because they are greedy for cheap. Mr. Kuang, a civil servant in Nanjing, spent more than 20,000 yuan on an English class of 144 in an early education center. "More than a year has passed and these classes have not been used up yet. I can't retreat if I want to, because this early education center has closed. "
The crazy expansion of early education institutions has also buried many security risks. According to the fire regulations, kindergartens should be built below the third floor of the building. The reporter's investigation found that most of the early education institutions where children gather are located in shopping malls and office buildings, and some early education centers are even above 20 floors. In addition, all kinds of teaching equipment used by early education institutions also lack authoritative certification and standards.